The present invention relates to the compositions comprising core-shell nanoparticles that preferentially associate with diseased cells, and methods relating thereto.
The ongoing worldwide nanotechnology revolution is predicted to impact several areas of biomedical research and other science and engineering applications. Nanoparticle-assisted drug delivery, cell imaging and cancer therapy are important potential biomedical applications of nanotechnology. Development of core-shell nanostructures that combine multiple functions are of great interest for future nano-bio-technology and biomedical applications. For example, core-shell nanostructures containing a chemotherapeutic drug and a fluorescent dye could be used to release the drug at sites of interest while tracking the exact location of its delivery using imaging methods employing the fluorescence of the dye molecules. Traditional tracing methods using organic dye molecules are not often successful because when a dye molecule such as fluoroescein isothiocyanate (FITC), is exposed to harsh environments, the dye molecule often suffers from freely interacting with solvent molecules, which can result in reduced performance of the dye. Encapsulation of the organic fluorescent dye in a core-shell nanostructure can add not only optical functionality, allowing the particles to be tracked and imaged easily, but can also enhance the stability and performance of the dye by protecting it from interacting negatively with surrounding solvents, e.g. photobleaching or quenching from the background medium.
Several groups have employed fluorescent core-shell nanoparticles to add functional layers that can destroy disease causing cells, including cancerous cells. Mesoporous fluorescent silica particles developed by adding molecular sieve materials such as MCM-48 were used for site-oriented delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs and cell imaging. Recently, gold coated silica nanoparticles have been used to kill tumor cells via hyperthermia treatments. However, these treatment methods employing either the conventional chemotherapeutic drugs or hyperthermia suffer from lack of significant cell specificity. These two methods can kill normal cells along with cancer cells of interest. It would be of interest to have a single platform to incorporate selective killing of diseased cells with the functionality of a fluorescent particle.